


Brave souls amidst war are secret friends

by tungstenpincenez



Series: That Which Keeps Us Warm [14]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Friendship, M/M, Motherhood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:49:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25386343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tungstenpincenez/pseuds/tungstenpincenez
Summary: Loki and Natasha share the most mundane and cliche of bonding experiences: they go shopping.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha Romanov, Loki/Thor, Loki/Thor (Marvel)
Series: That Which Keeps Us Warm [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1036220
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	Brave souls amidst war are secret friends

Loki had just emerged from the niche wherein he nursed his babes when he found Natasha in wait for him. He smiled, his eyes lingering on her protruding belly. Loki had been stunned when they had greeted one another upon his and Thor’s arrival to the new Avengers facility. Natasha had given a rueful grin, explained in an undertone that she had yet to recover from the shock (she had been assured that, as a part of her conditioning in The Red Room, she had been rendered sterile) but that as far as she and Barnes could understand it, the serum flowing through both their bodies had sufficiently revised her body as to make her able to conceive. Loki suffered a second shock at the revelation that Barnes was the father, but he quickly accepted the likelihood, the two having a shared dark past as tools of the same cruel regime. Much as his shared past with Thor similarly isolated them from others and made them a logical pairing, even without prior intimacies. 

“Would you be interested in going shopping with me?” Natasha asked without preamble and smiled in relief at Loki’s assent. “It’s just that I need to get away from James and his overprotectiveness. If I have to drink another glass of water he insists on getting for me, I’m going to punch him senseless. And most likely be forced on bedrest because it was ‘too much physical exertion’.”

They made their way to the common sitting area, where Natasha informed Barnes of her plans and in a loud enough tone to announce to the entire assembly. Thor beamed at Loki upon hearing the plan and gladly accepted the charge of their daughters, who babbled happily as they cuddled against their papa. 

Loki produced two palm-sized, transparent globes of _seiðr_ and raised an expectant eyebrow at his love. Thor obligingly filled them with threads of lightning. Loki then turned to face Barnes, baring his arms so that the globes became a latticework of protective runes intersecting upwards until they reached his shoulders and dissolved into his skin. He then transformed into his female Aesir form, modifying his garb into form-fitting clothes current with Midgardian fashion. Barnes nodded gravely to him. Natasha linked arms with him and ushered him toward the elevators.

When they arrived at the large complex, Loki allowed himself to be led from one shop to the next and found objects of interest that he was handling deftly plucked by Natasha and paid for by the small rectangular strip that was the preferred Midgardian mode of currency; she whispered with a wink that Fury was “picking up the tab, so buy to your heart’s content”. Loki grinned.

As they perused a shop that specialized in clothing for young children, both cooing over clever outfits that were both pretty and functional, Natasha suddenly asked, “Is everything okay on Mars?”

“All is well. We have had an abundance of crops and everything has been properly harvested and stored for the winter months. Heimdall and Svipul are capable regents.”

Natasha nodded and then asked in a more tentative tone, “And… the peoples… they all trust you now?”

Loki smiled in comprehension and nodded. It was one of the reasons he and Natasha had formed a friendship through the years. Having the Black Widow be his mentor in honing combat skills in his female forms only cementing their bond. Svipul had treated him with greater respect when he successfully applied the techniques against her. It was never to be a frequent occurrence, but Loki prized it, nonetheless. And brought it up in conversation when he felt the need to rile the valkyrie. 

“They would never willingly let me lead them without Thor’s presence, but I am content that they no longer see me as a perpetrator of doom. Oddly, I have been informed by several of the more outspoken that my position as Royal Consort had never been in doubt and had I been presented as princess rather than prince, the Council would have insisted on my marriage to Thor upon his original coronation.”

“Oh! But… does genetics work differently for gods? I mean, it’s completely taboo on Earth to marry and have kids with your brother or sister.”

“Ah, you mean defects resulting from sharing bloodlines. It is indeed discouraged, although not unheard of. Ruling families whose legitimacy is under threat will often choose to marry their close kin rather than allow an outsider to usurp them. And I might point out that your Egyptians and Hasburg Empire similarly chose to augment their standing through kin marriage.”

Natasha shook her head. “Been reading up on our history. Which country isn’t upholding their trade agreement with New Asgard? How big an international incident should I need to worry about?”

Loki laughed. “Nothing of the sort. Knowing a world’s history is certainly useful, but I was merely curious as to the many factions existing upon such a small planet. I am more used to worlds where there is but one leader or ruling clan.”

“But you said that Earth is a lot younger than these other worlds. Did they never go through the same sort of... period of disunion, let’s call it?”

“None in my lifetime, and perhaps the odd one, according to the history tomes that I perused. Yours is most certainly the anomaly.”

“Well, aren’t we special.”

Loki grinned. They entered a shop that sold a variety of small ornamental objects of whimsy and little function. Finding little of interest, they left and were about to enter the adjoining shop when Natasha stopped them and said, “I need a washroom break. This kid has killed my bladder control.”

When she exited the facilities, she huffed and said, “And now she’s hungry. Can we make another pit stop?”

As they ate their meal upon the roof of the building, overlooking the busy streets below (Natasha needing the fresh air and guiding them toward the correct staircase while Loki deftly disabled the alarm system), Natasha sipped her drink and asked, “I hope it’s not too personal a question, but I’ve always wondered how you and Thor… got together in the first place.”

Loki cocked his head. “You mean, how did we become lovers?” At her nod, he replied, “It began as a practical matter: we reached the age to be curious about sexual relations and desired to learn the pleasures of the flesh. However, I knew that the first bed partner we each claimed could never keep secret that they had been the ones to deflower the princes of Asgard. And we were vain enough to also not wish tales to spread of any inadequacies we had as bed partners. I therefore proposed to Thor that we teach one another the necessary skills and share new ones we acquired with other, more experienced partners. Through time, as we were given more responsibilities of rule and of warfare, that effectively prevented us from forming close bonds with any other than ourselves. We both knew that an advantageous marriage with a suitable spouse was expected of us and would be chosen by agreement by our parents and that of the other party; there was no place for the ‘love’ that Midgardians deem the only factor of significance in choosing a spouse.”

“Wow, so it all started as a convenience? When did that change to something more?”

“Thor and I have always been close, our positions as princes of Asgard and future rulers rendering isolation from others of our age. The physical intimacy was but another aspect of our bond.”

“Huh.”

“Now, my dear Widow, ‘tit for tat’ I believe is the expression. I am equally curious to know of your own ‘getting together’ with Barnes.”

“Like you, it started as a convenience. We’d been assigned to a few missions together, back when we were controlled by the Soviets, and even though the softer human emotions were, by necessity, conditioned out of us, we were still human enough to… feel lonely. And when you’re used to working alone and suddenly there’s someone that you’re seeing day-in, day-out and have to on some level trust…

“Anyway, we were off and on, on when we had jobs together, and then we’d go our separate ways. The… memories are still patchy, but both of us have been talking it over, and we’d figured out that the last time we worked together, something changed about… us. We had maybe four months together before they found out and erased our memories. We’d never have known if it weren’t for that one time after we’d sparred at the new training centre and decided to get drunk on some good quality vodka that I’d filched from Tony. We started making out… and it all just felt so familiar. We started remembering more bits and pieces, enough to want to give it another go. And, well, then I got knocked up.”

With Natasha’s nodded permission, Loki pressed a hand to her belly and smiled in delight when he felt a response. “She will be a warrior like her mother. I foresee Barnes being very much the kind of father Thor is: loving but terrified the child will come to any harm. You must not allow him to coddle her, else she will never be allowed out of his sight.”

Natasha huffed. “You got it to a ‘T’. Why do you think I dragged you shopping? It’s not really our thing. But you’re the only one he’ll trust to ‘protect’ me.”

Loki smiled. He and Barnes had also formed an unlikely friendship, although theirs was less easily defined. There would never be the closeness of brotherhood Barnes and the Captain shared, but there was a camaraderie felt only with him and not any of the others. “Rusty” Stark had pointed this out, and Barnes had snarkingly retorted that “the ex-villains have to stick together”, a half-truth Loki was comfortable with adopting as sufficient explanation.

“He will not squander this new lease on life that has been granted. But he will also cling all the more tightly, for fear it will disappear. I will have words with him upon our return.”

“Thanks, Loki. I’d really appreciate that. Now, do you wanna meander some more or should we call it a day?”

They returned to the compound, and Loki challenged Barnes to a sparring match. He restricted his moves to the ones that Natasha had taught him, and having soundly defeated his friend, pointedly told him that Natasha did not need protecting, despite her delicate condition. Barnes conceded the point.

That evening, having laid their daughters to rest and cuddled in the warmth of the bed, Loki told Thor of his conversation with Natasha. He then caused Thor to roar with laughter and be admonished by F.R.I.D.A.Y. when he told of his conversation with their eldest daughter that morning, prior to their departure for Midgard. She had come into their rooms in a rage, having been victim yet again to her youngest brother’s pranks. She had declared that she would _never_ marry him, and when asked what made her believe that such an event were imminent, she answered in confusion whether it had not been the case with her papa and mama. Loki had had to explain that he and Thor were not of the same blood; they were raised as brothers and had been such to one another for more years than as spouses and therefore had not stopped calling each other “brother”. Their daughter had been relieved upon learning that she was not expected to marry either of her brothers. 

Thor brought Loki closer and pressed a kiss upon his brow. “The lady Natasha is fortunate to have you as a staunch ally. I shall commiserate with Barnes upon the morrow.”

“Sentimental clod,” Loki muttered fondly into Thor’s chest.

**Author's Note:**

> winterwidow is a new discovery for me and one i think makes total sense. Sorry to the wintershield fans, but in this little corner of the marvel-verse, i find it hilarious to make steve as straight as an arrow, to totally embody the ideal that the americans have never managed to emulate as a whole.
> 
> title adapted from Thomas Tickell’s “A Poem, Addressed to the Lord Privy Seal, on the Prospect of Peace”


End file.
